Purging the PGI-9 cartridges

[jtoolman]

That would be fine as well! It's not that big a deal. Really.

 

[mikling]

If it were mine, I would fill it by weight, but stop at the Canon weight and fill it a little less than chock full--just to be on the safe side.

This might not consider the following aspects.

The specific gravity of Canon ink is unknown and we do not if the replacement ink is exactly the same specific gravity. Chances are it is not exactly. As a result, if you refill it purely by weight you are possibly forcibly creating a difference in volume; positive or negative is unknown.
We do know that the specific gravity varies by color, thus the weights required by each color would need to be specified, even if the above were determined. The deltas I have measured is around 1 gram over all the colors and this would include the deltas listed later.
When the printer performs its priming and cleaning etc. It is all done by a positive displacement peristaltic pump. This pump acts purely by volume and not by weight.
There also lies the possibility that a batch of cartridges might vary in weight due to different materials used but the volume contained remains the same. My delta spread of weight is around 0.25 grams amongst over one hundred of different empty cartridges I have gone over. What is causing it? I don't know...could be left over ink internally or another reason.

The real function of the of the scale in reality might really be to alert you of any possible trapped air or sticking diaphragm in which case, the uptake of ink would stop but the target weight will be noticeably lower. As long as the cartridge is full and does not leak ink when handled is all that matters, the effort to specify each particular cartridge and color to within 0.1 gram is a herculean task. Thus far, no user with my instructions have reported back any operating errors so I have to assume it works.

When you see the random folds the bellows take on internally, you will come to understand why there is a delta and it is to be expected.

 

[mikling]

Even with all this nitpicking do consider the amount of people trying to refill this with other types of sponge cartridges and other means and any sort of difference in opinion here pales in comparison to the other ways others are trying to do it and not doing it. Count your lucky stars.

 

[The Hat]

It seems to me that everybody is going round and round in circles over a single gram of ink.

I sense that there is an air of paranoia creeping into the refilling of the PGI-9 cartridge,
it could be because its so easy to refill that some guys cant believe their luck and think it should be a lot harder, well sorry its not..

Because youre going to replace and refill your cartridge at the low ink warning notice anyway or even before that so what difference will a 1 gm of ink really make?

When you refill your PGI-9 cartridge it doesnt matter what its weight is once its over 31 gm
so there will be no risk of running out of ink using this formula.

The average pocket scale is more that able (Capable) of measuring to within point one or two of a gram so theres no need to split the atom over point one of a gram miscalculation.

I weight a brand new full OEM cartridge today and it came in at exactly 31.1 gm so when you go to refill your next cartridge and ONCE its on or over that weight then your cartridge will be deemed to be successfully filled.

Just remember Happy Refilling guys.

 

[rodbam]

What a great idea Emu, thanks mate. It took a while to find some left over pension money but when we did it seems my scales are close to spot on.
And thanks everyone for your replies, I will take my full weight to be about 31g. ...........................or 32g....................................maybe sometimes 33g

 

[jtoolman]

Ditto and Ditto

 

[websnail]

If I may...

Can we start this thread over so that it's kept on topic and specific to flushing the cartridge.

A number of specific pointers have been raised and some of those need a little more attention, examination and/or debunking so that:
a) there's a clear idea of when a cartridge needs to be flushed.
b) the different method available/appropriate.
c) fluids, materials, etc... that should or should not be used.

.. and..
d) methods for avoiding the need to flush at all.


... and if anyone brings up the topic of refilling again they are to be taken outside and shot... all those in agreement?

 

[mikling]

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=58986#p58986

The internals exposed so you can see what is really going on internally.

 

[mortificatio]

I have also made a filling attachment clip which I also do use, when I end up with a cart set that is very low. I will carefully suck out the air with a syringe ( like HAT ) and and then proceed to inject about 15ml followed with a dribble till I see a wet exit sponge. Squeeze the sides a bit, with some blotting off of excess ink.
If I am just topping off a few carts , I'll resort to the dribble method.

Either method is brilliant and I had nothing to do with any of them so the credit goes to you guys.
It's a better method than DRILLING a hole like Ross Hardy does. YIKES!!!!!!

Just wanted to know if you have used the inks that Ross sells at Inkjetcarts.com?

 

[jtoolman]

It suffers from big to bronzing and gloss differential. You need a custom profile to get close matching color. Not so with PC equivalent.
Joe